MOOKs: limiting screen time

[irishbride2]

Mine are 6 and 9. Our rule for weekdays is no screen time except for the morning once they are completely ready for school. It’s our incentive. No screen time after school.

Weekends there are not hard and fast rules. They get unlimited time first thing in the morning because it allows us to sleep. They don’t get too much more screen time throughout the day but it honestly depends on the day. Terrible weather or h and I are sick? More screen time than usual lol.

[dock]

My 6yo is obsessed with screens. I hate the iPad, and really wish we could get rid of it and the tv. I see the same things you described, plus he’s often generally an asshole once it’s taken away (and asks for it CONSTANTLY). On top of that, he gets unlimited screen time with his dad, so basically has to detox from it every week when he comes back.

I’ve been limiting to 15 minutes or less on school days and one movie max per weekend day. And I honestly feel like that’s still too much, but with a nb in the house I use it as a crutch (and then feel like shit for it, rinse repeat).

[susiebw]

Nov 27, 2019 15:34:42 GMT -5 irishbride2 said:

Mine are 6 and 9. Our rule for weekdays is no screen time except for the morning once they are completely ready for school. It’s our incentive. No screen time after school.

Weekends there are not hard and fast rules. They get unlimited time first thing in the morning because it allows us to sleep. They don’t get too much more screen time throughout the day but it honestly depends on the day. Terrible weather or h and I are sick? More screen time than usual lol.

This is basically us, except for mornings before school, because there is generally no spare time there.  LOL.  But no TV during the week is a general rule in our house.  We break it once in a while, if someone's not feeling well or one parent is out for the night or something like that, but those times are exceptions, for sure.

They're 8 and 5, and don't have screens of their own, either.  We own a couple of ipads, Dh and I each have a phone, and we have 2 TVs in the house, but the kids use of any of those things are regulated, though not with set time limit rules.

[dcn]

No iPad during the week, he can watch a show on tv after school. On weekends I don’t limit too much but if he gives me a hard time it goes away until the next day or weekend.

He is more creative now and finds ways to entertain himself - builds things, invents games, plays with his brother, asks me to play board games etc. He also goes outside and plays with neighbors more.

[hocus2]

45 mins on weeknights (up from 30 last year) and then on weekends we don't have as much rules. They usually watch stuff before we get going around 9 on Saturday/Sunday and then a movie or binge 4 episode of what ever show they are into in the late afternoon.

I don't count any time needed for HW in the time.

[aspentosh]

We have a no screens during the week rule except for the online math homework she has to do.

On weekends we have no rule, but I do find that more watching = more attitude once she's done, so I try (TRY) and keep it to only a couple hours each day. There are some weekends where this isn't an issue but on rainy or super cold days it's harder.

She is almost 8.

[186momx]

This has gotten horrible since DD (8, 3rd grade) started school. It got so bad last Friday a no school grading day that I told her at conferences next week I was going to talk to her teacher about her dependence on screen time. She literally thought she should get the same amount of screen time as they do at school and kept looking at the clock saying it is now chrome book time for 40 minutes, mommy now it is time to watch video clips, its computer lab time. I may have lost it on her. It used to be she got to watch ONE twenty minute show on Netflix on a non-practice night. Now she wants to watch TV from the moment she gets home until bedtime. Starting Friday as I can't control TV at other peoples houses Thursday we going screen free until 6pm.

I would be fine with the TV time if she wasn't constantly begging for it and throwing a fit being moody when it was time to turn it off.

[niq]

V is 6 and we have stuck with "when you are waiting for food". At younger ages he would try to trick us into making a snack for him so he could watch more TV, but that's stopped. He ends up getting 30 minutes before dinner on weeknights, 30-45 minutes on Saturday/Sunday mornings if we don't go out, 30 minutes before lunch on Saturday, and 60-90 minutes before dinner on Sunday. He also gets 30 minutes of Freckle + 30 minutes of PBS Kids web games.

[Patsy Baloney]

My oldest is almost 7. I don't have a hard limit. When we get home in the evening, she usually pops on the Switch until dinner is ready (so probably 30-45 minutes). TV is on in the background a lot.

On the weekends, we usually try to wait until the afternoon to watch TV/have screen time, just because we run our errands in the morning. We'll often watch a few shows together or play a video game together. Again, TV is often in the background, so she'll play or write or something, watch TV for a bit, go back to what she was doing, etc. If she's been reeeeally hitting video game time hard, we turn it off after an hour or so.

For us, it's not so much limiting her time as it is picking smart times of day to let her use electronics. If we have somewhere to go/something to do, I tend to not let her use screens until that is done. She's kind of a butthead when she has to stop something she wants to watch/play.

[imojoebunny]

We limit screens, other than for homework, to Friday to Sunday. Usually at least one weekend a month, they get very little because we go out of town, and often do not have wifi. If we happen to be home all weekend, and don't have something planned, like if someone is sick, they might get a whole day, but this is rare. Most weekends, they have it for a couple of hours in the morning, and then again after dinner time. They are allowed to watch TV with us during the week for a bit, but they don't have much interest in TV, especially what I am willing to watch. There is only so much Property Brothers kids can take, so it ends up being a time to talk.

[VillainV]

C is 5 and in K. He doesn’t get to use the iPad during the week except occasionally we will let him watch while sitting on the potty only. We don’t really limit on weekends because he’s pretty good at self-regulating how much he watches and switching between educational games and such. We had a few Monday tantrums when we first went to this system, but threatened to take the iPad away completely if he couldn’t handle it, and it’s been much better since.

[lolo]

Mine get 1 hour a day, which must be before dinner on school nights.

Occasionally we will have a movie night in addition to that--once every few weeks.

[expectantsteelerfan]

Mine are 8 and 10, and they can only get 1/2 hour a day. And if it's a weekday, they can only have it if their homework is done, and ds often has to wait to have it till I'm taking dd somewhere because if I have to leave him home alone, screen time keeps him out of trouble more than anything else (a lot of times dh isn't home yet, and i take dd somewhere, then dh or a carpool person picks ds up to go to his practices).
I do make exceptions for if they have friends over to play (usually make them play outside for a while first if the weather permits), if they have to accompany me on a long/annoying errand (like if they have to come with me to get the car an oil change or a dr. appointment for me, they can bring a screen and play the entire time), or if any of us are sick.
And on the weekend, they usually use their screen time right when they wake up (which I'm good with, it gets me an extra half hour of sleep), and then if we aren't busy, I will let them earn more if they read, so if they read for 30 min, they can have another 30 min.
On the weekends, mine still have trouble transitioning from screens to getting ready for the day/eating breakfast sometimes even after only 30 min., but weekdays aren't a problem. And many weekdays, they don't ask for their screen time at all because we're so busy.

[ilikedonuts]

Mine are 6 and 8 and we have no real rules. DD1 swims 90 minutes a night M-F so if I need to take DD2 with me to the practice (luckily I’ve found people to carpool with to avoid it), she ends up getting a good amount of ipad time so I do tell them to keep the tv off if we are home after school before swimming (Usually a couple days a week).

Weekends and days off of school if we are home (Once again not very often bc we are so busy) the tv is usually on, but they never ask for the iPad. They rarely sit and fully watch the tv so I honestly haven’t paid attention to how much it’s really is.

[dontlook]

8 and 6. No screens during the week. Weekends I don’t really limit. They are pretty good about taking breaks themself to do other things.

[sporklemotion]

We don’t limit much. I try very hard to avoid anything but the TV at home and don’t do screens in restaurants or in public places except under extreme circumstances like the airport or a long appointment. We don’t eat out as much as I’d like and do mostly diner/fast casual/fast service places as a result, but I don’t want to open the door to it.

We fight a lot of battles at home, but try to keep the girls out and about enough that even if they are couch potatoes at home, it’s not for too long. It’s only snow days or holidays when things are closed that we struggle to get them to play without killing each other or whining for TV.

My husband will let them use his phone when it’s just him. I wish he wouldn’t, because I definitely see the bad reaction when we try to take it away. But it’s not my battle and the girls can’t use my devices without a passcode, so they rarely ask me.
We allow more than most of you do, but I do find it helps to have them watch shows instead of the random YouTube crap they like. I might let them have an hour, but it’s easier to turn off if they know that I’ll do it at the end of the show. Lately, they’ve found other things to do after we turn shows off, which helps.

[jamaicam]

My boys are 5 and 7

On weeknights, it's 15-30 minutes at most when we have come in from playing outside and all homework is done and they are having a snack before the bath/book/bed routine.

ON a weekend it varies. Sometimes there is none because we are busy doing other things. I try to limit it to a max of 2 hours, and that tends to be if we have movie afternoon

They don't use their tablets other than in school holidays and the tv is off at other times, so no background watching.

[mrsGreeko]

We don’t do screen time for the younger 2 (ages 10 and 8) during the week. Oldest is 13 and has mostly computer based school work so she gets some. Plus I think she needs to sort of start learning to regulate it herself.

I also use Disney circle to limit screen time (and filter like crazy) on their personal devices including the 13 year old’s. I also use screentime on my 13 year old’s iPhone to further limit some things. She’s not allowed any social media so that’s all completely blocked on her phone and computer.

We also have a strict no screens in bedrooms rule. They charge downstairs and are only used in common areas of the house.

It’s all exhausting. .

[lolalolalola]

My kids won this battle.

They are home alone for a couple hours after school. They both do most of their homework online. They both listen to Spotify a lot. They also FaceTime their friends a lot since they don’t see them outside of school very much.

Basically now we let them use screens as much as they want as long as their homework and chores are done, until their shut- off time, which is 9pm for my 14 yo and 8:30 for my 12 yo.

[jaycee]

2 boys ages 6 and 8.

No screens of any type weekdays. Two hour time limit on weekends. Only in the house (no screens while waiting in public). We’ve had to have strict rules in this area bc my oldest gets ragey when he has too much. Been using these rules for a few years. His behavior has improved, but not sure if it is because of screen rules or other things (maturity, healthier foods, etc).

[erbear]

I'm fairly lax about it right now. Kids are 10 and 8. They are allowed to play Minecraft when we get home from school and before dinner as long as they have done their homework, which generally amounts to less than an hour because we get home so late. All bets are off on weekends. They can ask for screen time. Sometimes we say yes, sometimes we say no. Lots of days they get none because we're out of the house all day. Other days, they get tons because we're being lazy.

The only thing I really crack down on is texting. DD1 has started texting with her friends (on an iPad - no phone for a few more years) and she doesn't have great etiquette so I limit that quite a bit. And if they argue or are annoying or rude when I tell them to get off the iPads, they lose them.

[pugz]

my 7 year old only gets it on the weekend, none on weekdays. It affects her behavior too much. She gets about an hour or so on Saturday and Sunday

[waverly]

DS is obsessed with screen time, and it causes problems to get him off it. We had a no screen time in the morning, and only 2 hours after school. But DS has been getting up early to get screen time.

Also on the weekend we had no screen time until 5 pm, but DH watches sports and DS has become really into sports and DH gives into him on watching all the sports. So I don't know the answer to this.

He has a Chromebook from school, which I wish they never gave him. He is allowed 1 hour a day on it. TV and computer time do not add up to 3 hours, he is still limited to 2 hours overall screen time per day.

[gibbinator]

My 5 and 7 year old don't get any screen time during the week. On the weekends we've loosened up considerably in the past year, and they watch TV or play video games Saturday and Sunday mornings from 7am until about lunchtime (unless we have other plans out of the house). They usually get a show or two Sunday afternoon at the ILs too. We don't have a tablet and we don't let them use our phones except in very rare circumstances (lawyer/bank meeting we have to bring them to).